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tion for the preservation of the life of Benjamin.

Joseph being now overcome with his affection, and no longer able to personate an angry man, commanded all that were present to depart, that he might make himself known to his brethren, when they were alone.* And when the rest were gone out, he discovered himself, and said, "I commend you for your virtue, and for your kindness to your brother; I find you better men than I could have expected from what you contrived about me. Indeed I did all this to try your love to your brother. So I believe you were not wicked by nature, in what you did in my case: but that all has happened according to God's will; who has thereby procured our enjoyment of what good things we have; and if he continue in a favourable disposition, of what we hope for hereafter. Since, therefore, I know that our father is safe, and well, beyond expectation; and I see you so well disposed towards your brother, I will no longer remember what guilt you seem to have had about me; but rather return you my thanks, that you have concurred with the intentions of God to bring things to their present state. I would have you also forget the same, since that imprudence of yours is come to such a happy conclusion, rather than to be uneasy and blush at those your offences. Do not therefore, let your evil intentions, when you condemned me, and that bitter remorse which might follow, be a grief to you now: because those intentions were frustrated. Go your way, rejoicing in what has happened by the divine providence, and inform your father of it, lest he should be spent with tears for you, and deprive me of the most agreeable part of my felicity; I mean lest he should die before he comes into my sight, and enjoys the good things that we now have. Take therefore, with

you our father, and your wives and children, and all your kindred, and remove your habitation hither; for it is not proper that the persons dearest to me should live remote from me, now my affairs are so prosperous; especially when they must endure five more years of famine." When Joseph had said this, he embraced his brethren, who were in tears and sorrow; but the generous kindness of their

* Gen. xlv. 1.

VOL. I.-NO. 2.

brother seemed to leave among them no room for fear, lest they should be punished on account of what they had consulted and acted against him. And they were then feasting. Now the king, as soon as he heard that Joseph's brethren were come to him, was exceeding glad of it, as if it had been part of his own good fortune; and gave them waggons full of corn, and gold, and silver, to be conveyed to their father. Now when they had received more of their brother; part to be carried to their father, and part as free gifts to every one of themselves, Benjamin having still more than the rest, they departed.

CHAP. VII.

OF THE REMOVAL OF JACOB AND ALL HIS FAMILY INTO EGYPT, ON ACCOUNT OF THE FAMINE.

S soon as Jacob came to know by his

sons' returning home, in what state Joseph was; that he had not only escaped death, but that he lived in splendour and happiness, and ruled over Egypt, jointly with the king; and had intrusted to his care almost all his affairs, he did not think any thing he was told to be incredible, considering the greatness of the works of God, and his kindness to him: although that kindness had, for some time past, been intermitted. So he immediately and zealously set out upon his journey to him.

When he came to the well of the oath, Beersheba, he offered sacrifice to God,† and being afraid that the happiness there was in Egypt might tempt his posterity to fall in love with it, and settle in it, and no more think of removing into the land of Canaan, and possessing it as God had promised them; also, being afraid, lest if this descent into Egypt were made without the will of God, his family might be destroyed there, and out of fear lest he should depart this life before he came to the sight of Joseph, he fell asleep, revolving these doubts in his mind.

But God stood by him, and called to him twice by his name: and when he asked who he was? God said, "Is it not just that thou Jacob shouldest be acquainted with that God who has ever been a protector and a helper to thy forefathers, and after them to thyself. For when thy father would have deprived

† Gen. xlvii. 1.

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thee of the dominion, I gave it thee; and by my kindness it was that when thou was sent into Mesopotamia alone, thou obtainedst good wives, and returnedst with many children, and much wealth. Thy whole family, also, has been preserved by my providence; and it was I who conducted Joseph thy son, whom thou gavest up for lost, to the enjoyment of great prosperity. I also made him lord of Egypt, so that he differs but little from a king. Accordingly I come now as a guide to thee in this journey, and foretel to thee that thou shalt die in the arms of Joseph, and that thy posterity shall be many ages in authority and glory; and I will settle them in the land which I have promised them."

Encouraged by this dream, Jacob went on more cheerfully for Egypt, with his sons, and all belonging to them. Now they were in all seventy. I once indeed thought it best not to set down the names of this family; especially because of their difficult pronunciation by the Greeks. But upon the whole, I think it necessary to mention those names; that I may confute such as believe that we came originally not out of Mesopotamia, but are Egyptians.

Now Jacob had twelve sons. Of these Joseph was come thither before: we will therefore set down the names of Jacob's children and grand-children. Reuben had four sons; Anoch, Phallu, Assaron, and Charmi. Simeon had six; Jamuel, Jamin, Avod, Jachin, Soar, and Saul. Levi had three sons; Gersom, Caath, and Merari. Judas had three sons; Sala, Pharez, and Zerab; and by Pharez, two grand-children; Esrom and Amur. Isachar had four sons; Thola, Phua, Jasub, and Samaron. Zabulon had with him three sons; Sarad, Helon, and Jalel. So far is the posterity of Leah, with whom went her daughter Dinah. These are thirty-three. Rachel had two sons; one of whom, Joseph, had two sons also; Manasseh and Ephraim. The other, Benjamin, had ten sons; Bolau, Bacchar, Asabel, Geras, Naaman, Jes, Ros, Momphis,

* All the Greek copies of Josephus have the negative particle here, that Jacob himself was not reckoned one of the seventy souls that came into Egypt. But the old Latin copies want it, and directly assure us he was one of them. It is, therefore, hardly certain which of these was Josephus's true reading: since the number of seventy is made up without him, if we reckon Leah for one; but if

| Opphis, and Arad. These fourteen added to the thirty-three before enumerated, amount to forty-seven: and this was the legitimate posterity of Jacob. He had beside by Bilha, the handmaid of Rachael, Dan and Naphthali, which last had four sons, that followed him; Jesel, Guni, Issari, and Sellim. Dan had an only begotten son, Usi. If these be added to those above-mentioned, they complete the number fifty-four. Gad and Aser were the sons of Zilpha, who was the handmaid of Leah. Gad had these seven sons; Saphoniah, Augis, Sunis, Azabon, Aerin, Ereod, and Ariel. Aser had a daughter, Sarah, and six male children, whose names were Jomne, Isus, Isoui, Baris, Abar, and Melchiel. If we add these, which are sixteen, to the fifty-four, the afore-mentioned number, seventy, is completed, Jacob* himself not being included.

After

When Joseph understood that his father was coming, for Judas his brother arrived before him, and announced his approach, he went out to meet him, and they met together at Heroopolis. But Jacob almost fainted away at this great and unexpected joy; however, Joseph revived him, though unable himself to refrain being affected in the same manner. Yet he was not wholly overcome with his passion, as his father was. this he desired Jacob to travel on slowly, whilst he himself took five of his brethren with him, and hastened to the king, to tell him that Jacob and his family were come. This was a joyful hearing to Pharaoh, who bid Joseph tell him what sort of life his brethren loved to lead, that he might give them permission to follow the same. He said, they were good shepherds, and had been used to follow no other employment: by which he provided for them, that they should not be separated, but live in the same place, and take care of their father; as also hereby he provided, that they might be acceptable to the Egyptians, by doing nothing that would be common to them with the Egyptians; for the Egyptians are prohibited from feeding sheep.

she be not reckoned, Jacob himself must be one, to complete the number.

N. B. The LXXII. add Machir, and Gilead, and Satelaam, and Taom, and Edem, who were born in Egypt, and so have in all seventy-five souls as Act. vii. 14.

↑ Josephus thought that the Egyptians hated or despised the employment of a shepherd in the days of Joseph..

When Jacob was come to the king, and had saluted him, and wished all prosperity to his government, Pharaoh asked how old he was? Upon whose answer, that he was a hundred and thirty years old, he admired Jacob on account of the length of his life. And when he had added, that still he had not lived so long as his fore-fathers, he gave him leave to live with his children in Heliopolis; for in that city the king's shepherds had their pasturage.

The famine now increased among the Egyptians, and this heavy judgment grew more oppressive to them, because neither did the river overflow the ground, for it did not rise to its former height; nor did God send rain* upon it. Nor did they, indeed, make the least provisions for themselves, so ignorant were they what was to be done. But Joseph sold them corn for their money; and when their money failed them, they bought corn with their cattle and their slaves; and if any of them had a small piece of land, they gave up that to purchase them food. By which means the king became the owner of all their substance; and they were removed some to one place, and some to another; that so the possession of their country might be firmly assured to the king; excepting the lands of the priests; for their country continued still in their own possession. And indeed this sore famine made their minds as well as their bodies slaves; and at length compelled them to procure a sufficiency of food by such dishonourable means. But when this misery ceased, and the river overflowed the ground, and the earth brought forth its fruits plentifully, Joseph came to every city, and gathered the people thereto belonging together, and gave them back entirely the land which, by their own consent, the king might have pos

Whereas Bishop Cumberland has shewn, that they rather hated such Phoenician or Canaanite shepherds as had long enslaved the Egyptians of old time. See his Sanchoniath, page 361-362.

* Reland here puts the question, how Josephus could complain of its not raining in Egypt during this famine, while the ancients affirm that it never does naturally rain there? His answer is, that when the ancients deny that it rains in Egypt, they only mean the upper Egypt, above the Delta, which is called Egypt in the strictest sense; but that in Delta, and consequently in the lower Egypt adjoining to it, it did not hold, and still does rain sometimes. See the note on III. 1.

+ Josephus supposes that Joseph now restored the

sessed alone, and alone enjoyed the fruits of it. He also exhorted them to look on it as their own possession; to resume their labours of husbandry with cheerfulness; and to pay as a tribute to the crown, the fifth part of the fruits of the land which the king, when it was his own, restored to them. These men rejoiced upon their becoming unexpectedly owners of their land, and diligently observed what was enjoined them. And by this means Joseph procured to himself a greater authority among the Egyptians, and a greater love to the king from them. Now this law, that they should pay the fifth part of their fruits as tribute, continued until the time of their later kings.

WH

CHAP. VIII.

OF THE DEATH OF JACOB AND JOSEPH.

HEN Jacob had lived seventeen years in Egypt, he fell into a disease, and died in the presence of his sons; but not till he had made his prayers for their prosperity; and had foretold prophetically how every one of them was to dwell in the land of Canaan. But this happened many years afterwards. He also enlarged‡ upon the praises of Joseph; how he had not remembered the evil doings of his brethren to their disadvantage: nay, on the contrary, was kind to them; bestowing upon them so many benefits, as seldom are bestowed on men's own benefactors. then commanded his own sons that they should admit Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, into their number; and divide the land of Canaan in common with them; concerning whom we shall treat hereafter. However, he made it his request, that he might be buried at Hebron. So he died; when he had lived a hundred and forty-seven years

He

Egyptians their lands again, upon the payment of a fifth part as tribute. It seems to me rather that the land was now considered as Pharaoh's; and this fifth part as its rent, to be paid to him, as he was their landlord, and they his tenants; and that the lands were not properly restored, and this fifth part reserved as a tribute only, till the days of Sesostris.

As to this encomium upon Joseph, as preparatory to Jacob's adopting Ephraim and Manasseh into his own family, and to be admitted into his two tribes, which Josephus here mentions; all our copies of Gen. omit it, c. xlviii. nor do we know whence he took it; or whether it be his own embellishment.

Gen xlvii 28.

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having not been inferior to any of his ancestors in piety towards God; and having such a recompence for it as it was fit those should have, who were so good as these were. Joseph, by the king's permission, carried his father's dead body to Hebron, and there buried it, at a great expense.* But his brethren were at first unwilling to return back with him; because they were afraid, lest now their father was dead, he should punish them for their secret practices against him; since he was now gone, for whose sake he had been so gracious to them. He persuaded them, however, to fear no harm, and to entertain no suspicions of him; so he brought them along with him, and gave them great possessions, and continually evinced the most particular concern for them.†

Joseph also died when he had lived a

*Though there be something of a natural desire in most men to be buried in the places where their ancestors lie; yet Jacob's aversion to have his remains deposited in Egypt seems to be more earnest than ordinary, or otherwise he would never have imposed an oath upon his sons, and charged them all, with his dying breath, not to suffer it to be done. For he very well knew, that had his body been buried in Egypt, his posterity, upon that very account, would have been too much wedded to the country, ever to attempt the acquisition of the promised land; and therefore, to wean them from the thought of continuing in Egypt, and to fix their minds and affections in Canaan, he ordered his body to be carried thither beforehand, in testimony that he died in full persuasion of the truth of the promises which were given to him and his ancestors: nor was it inconvenient, that future generations, after their return into Canaan, should have before their eyes the Sepulchre of their forefathers, for a record of their virtues, and an incitement to the imitation of them. But the strongest motive of all for Jacob's desiring to be buried in Canaan, (supposing that he foreknew that our Saviour Christ was to live and die, and with some others, rise again in that country) was, that he might be one of that blessed number; as it was indeed an ancient tradition in the church, that among those, who came out of their graves after our Lord's resurrection, Mat. xxvii. 53, the patriarch Jacob was one. Pool's Annotations, and Bibliotheca Bibl. B.

When Joseph died he was not only embalmed, but put into a coffin. This was an honour appropriated to persons of distinction, coffins not being universally used in Egypt. Maillet, speaking of the Egyptian repositories of the dead, having given an account of several niches that are found there, says, "it must not be imagined, that the bodies deposited in these gloomy apartments were all enclosed in chests, and placed in niches; the greatest part were simply embalmed and swathed after that manner that every one hath some notion of; after which they laid them one by the side of another without any ceremony: some were even put into these tombs without any embalming at all, or such a slight one, that there remains.

hundred and ten years; having been a man of admirable virtue; who conducted all his affairs by the rules of reason, and used his authority with moderation; which was the cause of his great felicity among the Egyptians, even when he came from another country, and that in such ill circumstances as we have already described. At length his brethren died, after they had lived happily in Egypt. Now the posterity and sons of these men after some time carried their bodies, and buried them at Hebron. But as to the bones of Joseph, they carried them into the land of Canaan afterwards,§ when the Hebrews went out of Egypt; for so had Joseph made them promise him upon oath. **But what became of every one of these men, and by what toils they got the possession of the land of Canaan, shall be shewn hereafter; when I have exnothing of them in the linen in which they were wrapped but the bones, and those half rotten." (Letter vii. p. 281.) Antique coffins of stone, and sycamore wood, are still to be seen in Egypt. It is said that some were formerly made of a kind of pasteboard, formed by folding and glueing cloth together a great number of times; these were curiously plaistered and painted with hieroglyphics. Thevenot, part i. p. 137. B.

Of the burying places of Joseph, and of the other patriarchs, as they are here rightly stated, see Test. Simeon, § 8. and Test. Benjamin, § 12, with the Note, in Authent. Rec. Part 1, page 415, 416.

§ Exodus, xiii. 19. Acts vii. 16.

**There are several reasons which might induce Joseph not to have his dead body immediately carried into Canaan, and buried as his father was. 1st, Because his brethren, after his decease, might not have interest enough at court to provide themselves with such things as were necessary to set off the pomp and solemnity of a funeral befitting so great a personage. 2dly, Because he might foresee, that the Egyptians, in all probability, as long as their veneration for his memory was warm, would hardly have suffered his remains to have been carried into another country. 3dly, Because the continuance of his remains among them might be a means to preserve the remembrance of the services he had done them, and thereby an inducement to them to treat the relations he had left behind him with more kindness. 4thly, And chiefly, because the presence of his body with the Israelites might be a pledge to assure them, and a means to strengthen and confirm their faith, and hope in God's promises to their progenitors, that he would infallibly put their posterity in possession of the land of Canaan: and accordingly, when Moses delivered them out of Egypt, he carried Joseph's body along with him, (Exod. xiii. 19.) and committed it to the care of the tribe of Ephraim, who buried it near She-. chem, (Josh. xxiv. 32.) in the field which Jacob, a little before his death, gave to Joseph, as his peculiar property. Pereius, and Patrick's Commentary; Pool's Annotations, and Calmet's Dictionary under the word. B

plained on what account it was that they left || hard labour: and four hundred years did they Egypt.

CHAP. IX.

OF THE AFFLICTIONS THAT BEFEL THE HEBREWS IN EGYPT, * DURING FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.

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TOW it happened that the Egyptians grew delicate and indolent, and gave themselves up to pleasure, and in particular to the love of gain. They also became very ill affected towards the Hebrews, as touched with envy at their prosperity; for when they saw how the nation of the Israelites flourished, and were become eminent already in plenty of wealth, which they had acquired by their virtue and natural love of labour, they thought their increase was to their own detriment; and having in length of time forgotten the benefits they had received from Joseph, particularly the crown being now come into another family,† they became very abusive to the Israelites, and contrived many ways of afflicting them, for they enjoined them to cut a great number of channels for the river, and to build walls for their cities and ramparts, that they might restrain the river, and hinder its waters from stagnating, upon its running over its own banks; they set them also to build pyramids, and by all this wore them out, and forced them to learn all sorts of mechanical arts, and to accustom themselves to

*As to the affliction of Abraham's posterity for 400 years, see I. 10. and as to what cities they built in Egypt under Pharaoh Sesostris, and of Pharaoh Sesostris's drowning in the Red Sea, see Essay on the Old Test. Append. page 139-162.

† Exodus, i. 8.

It is a common opinion, that the word pyramid is derived from the Greek Pyr or Pur, Fire; and that these structures were so called from their shape, which ascended from a broad basis, and ended in a point, like a flame of fire. Others, whose opinion Vossius seems to approve, say that the name comes from the word Pyros, which, in the same language, signifies wheat, because they suppose them to have been the granaries of the ancient Egyptian kings. But a late writer, versed in the Coptic tongue, has given us another etymology from that language, wherein Pouro signifies a king, and Misi, a race, or generation; and the reason why the Pyramids had this name given them, was, as he tells us, because they were erected to preserve he memory of the princes (who were their founders) and their families. Wilkins's Dissert. de ling. Copt. p. 108.

Of this building of the pyramids of Egypt by the Israelites, see Perizonius Orig. Egyptiac. c. 21. It is not impossible they might build one or more of the small ones, but the large ones seem much later. See my Chronolo

spend under these afflictions, for they strove one against another which should get the mastery; the Egyptians desiring to destroy the Israelites by these labours, and the Israelites desiring to hold out to the end under them.

While the affairs of the Hebrews were in this condition, there was this occasion offered itself to the Egyptians, which made them more solicitous for the extinction of our nation. One of these sacred scribes,§ who are very sagacious in foretelling future events truly, told the king, that about this time a child would be born to the Israelites; who, if he were reared, would bring the Egyptian dominion low, and would raise the Israelites; that he would excel all men in virtue, and obtain a glory that would be remembered through all ages; which thing was so feared by the king, that, according to this man's opinion, he commanded that every male child, which was born to the Israelites, should be cast into the river, and destroyed; that besides this, the Egyptian** midwives should watch the labours of the Hebrew women, and observe what was born; for those were the women who were enjoined to do the office of midwives to them, and by reason of their relation to the king would not transgress his commands. He enjoined, also, that if any parents should disobey him, and venture to gical Table, and Authent. Rec. Part II. page 885, 886, 887. Only if they be all built of stone, this does not so well agree with the Israelites' labours, which are said to have been in brick, and not in stone, as Mr. Sandys observes in his Travels, page 127, 128.

§ Dr. Bernard informs us here, that instead of this single priest, or prophet of the Egyptians, without a name in Josephus, the Targum of Jonathan names the two famous antagonists of Moses, Jannes and Jambres. Nor is it at all unlikely, that it might be one of these who foreboded so much misery to the Egyptians, and so much happiness to the Israelites, from the rearing of Moses.

** Josephus is clear that these midwives were Egyptians, and not Israelites, as in our other copies, which is very probable, it being not easily to be supposed that Pharaoh could trust the Israelite midwives to execute so barbarous a command against their own nation. Consult, therefore, and correct hence our ordinary copies, Exod. i. 15-22; and, indeed, Josephus seems to have had much completer copies of the Pentateuch, or other authentic records now lost, about the birth and actions of Moses, than either our Hebrew, Samaritan, or Greek Eibles afford us, which enabled him to speak so largely and particularly about him.

It is generally supposed that the midwives upon this

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